The Plagiarists' CIRCLE HOUSE Continues Through the End of May

Circle House, which opened Friday, April 27, is the newest production from The Plagiarists, a return to a group-writing style that is rather uniquely theirs. Company member and lead playwright Jessica Wright Buha organized a group of writers and artists into multiple writing sessions over several months, exploring both the cyclical nature and unsteadiness of nature and life. From there the script was developed by Buha and her team, then masterfully tackled by the sure and sensitive hand of director Kate Nawrocki.

The dichotomy of life and death has always been a source of art, but for Jessica Wright Buha, it recently became an imperative to explore the subject: as she was preparing for the birth of her first child, the Chicago theater community seemed to be reeling from the loss of many of our most beloved artists. In Circle House, Buha has compiled the words from myriad artists into a truly beautiful show about how endings are beginnings, the secrets of nature and music, and what happens when we die. There are three different tracks the audience can follow, each with their own stories to tell.

The play takes place in the Berger Park North Mansion, which has been transformed into the Time Museum. There you can touch anything - "except not anything delicate" - and there you will meet the curators, Tock (Sara Jean McCarthy), Tick (Jhenai Mootz), and Tack (Judi Schindler). The curators are sticklers for the rules. They make appearances throughout the tour, but they are not your guides. They are Devereaux (Emily Green), Thorne (Katherine Lamb), and Bracken (Elaine Small), and they are at Circle House to teach you how endings are beginnings, the secrets of nature and music, and what really happens when we die. Or at least that's what's supposed to happen. But in Circle House, as in life, things don't always go according to plan.

The curators ask that you please not talk to the guides about their lives before Circle House. The curators also ask you to tell them if you see anything that isn't real. It's for everyone's own good, they say. But is it really? Why can't the guides go outside? Who were they before? Why do they seem to resent the curators? Who are the people who keep appearing and disappearing in each room, reliving their lives with our guides - are they real? Are they ghosts?

Each room the guides take us through is appointed with a sense of mystery and whimsy by the design team, full of fun objects, tactile and cerebral activities, and maybe, just maybe something unexpected.

With three possible tours to take, you might want to spend more than one night exploring the Time Museum.

Shows run Fridays and Saturdays through May 27th at 7:30PM.

For tickets visit www.brownpapertickets.com or call 1-800-838-3006; ticketing questions email reservations@theplagiarists.org

WHERE: Berger Park North Mansion, 6219 N. Sheridan Rd. (Granville & Sheridan) 2 blocks east of the Granville Red Line stop. CTA Bus # 136, 147, 151

Tickets are $20, $15 for Students & Seniors

CAST: Bryan Breau, Christina Casano, Graham Emmons, Emily Green, Katherine Lamb, Sara Jean McCarthy, Jhenai Mootz, Judi Schindler, and Elaine Small.

PRODUCTION TEAM: Director Kate Nawrocki, Becky Bishop (Stage Manager), Brad Brubaker & The Crowd Goes Wild ?(Composer/Music Director) and Emily Wills (Assistant Director) join Plagiarists Emma Cullimore (Production Designer), Derik Marcussen (Production Designer), Gregory Peters & Jack Dugan Carpenter (Production Managers), and Artistic Ensemble member John Jacobson ?(Lighting Designer).

WRITING TEAM: Conceived, written, and edited by Jessica Wright Buha; Songs written and composed by Brad Brubaker & the Crowd Goes Wild; Contributing Editor: Jodie Smylie; Contributing Writers: Axel Arth (Lead Writer), Brad Brubaker, Kaitlin Byrd, Christina Casano, Kara Davidson, Sarah Idzik, Amanda Link, Charlotte Long, Derik Marcussen, Sara Jean McCarthy, Aileen McGroddy, Darren Meyers, Deanna Myers, Gregory Peters, Ellenor Riley-Condit, Jessica Saxvik, Skyler Schrempp, Jodie Smylie, and DusTy Wilson.

Formed in 2007, The Plagiarists steal from literature, visual art, history, and the culture at large to create new theatre that finds the familiar in the strange, the unique in the commonplace and ultimately enlarges the world. This project is supported by The MacArthur Funds for Arts and Culture at The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation and the Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation.

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